International Conference on Local Representation of Power in South Asia 2014

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The Department organized a Two-Day International Conference onLocal Representation of Power in South Asia on October 09–10, 2014.

Scholarly traditions often associate improved governance outcomes with the devolution of fiscal, political, and administrative responsibilities to lower tiers of government (Laerhoven, 2008; Ostrom, 2001). Theoretical and empirical studies hypothesize that decentralization of power is expected to be directly proportionate to increased public sector efficiency and local development through strengthened local governance. It is supposedly done through citizens’ direct participation in governance, public delivery, dispute resolution, revenue generation, and spending functions by bringing legitimate power of the state ‘closer to the people’. It is therefore, important to explore who gets to represent whom at local level in ‘developing’ countries of world’s most populous region – South Asia – with comparatively less stratified governmental structures.

Devolution of power – primarily that of administration and finance – to local level helps orderly provision of goods and services at grass root level. Most of public issues that local governments aim to address are manageable within their particular jurisdiction; and benefits from their actions and delivery of services or safety is limited to a specific area and confined to the populous of that area. However, many public issues at local level do not fall so easily into geographic jurisdictional limits. They are either impossible to tackle or are severely limited or degraded by the presence of geographic jurisdictions. Hence defining this ‘localness’ of issues and that of geographic area is of crucial importance and varies from country to country (Perlman & Jimenez, 2010).

Local self government units fulfill their existence with providing participation, autonomy and efficiency as three main principles of local democracy (Rozen, 2013). Research now focuses local governance and representation of power in terms of “diverse and varied set of institutions and processes” (Stoker, 2004). South Asia exhibits a variegated spectrum of forms of local representation of power ranging from colonial legacies and traditional/indigenous power structures to borrowed and innovative systems of local self governments with varying degree of success, public delivery, and local acceptance. These structures are shaped and in turn shape social structures.

The conference seeked to explore various forms of local representation of power in South Asia, their degree of success in providing public services and safety, their role in arbitration and adjudication, and the issues like electoral process, administrative capacity, financial autonomy, and accountability of local governments.

Day 1 Wednesday November 12, 2014

08:00

09:30

Registration for the Conference

09:30

11:00

Inaugural Session and Keynote AddressGovernance, Governmentality and Governability of Local Governments in South Asia: Constraints and Possibilities by Dr. Chanchal Kumar Sharma
Venue: Bukhari Auditorium

11:00

11:25

Tea / Coffee Break

11:25

11:30

Conference Photograph

11:30

01:30

Session 1: Theory of Local Representation of Power
Venue: Bukhari AuditoriumChair: Dr. Farhat Mahmud- Local Governance, politics, and the state – a theoretical viewDr. Katja Mielke

– Transformation from Wali’s to State Judicial System in Swat: Positioning of the Chessboard PiecesHanif Ullah Sajid & Muhammad Usman Amin Siddiqi

– Dera System and Their Role in Electoral Politics of Lahore Ch. M. Afzaal & Muhammad Usman Amin Siddiqi

04:30

5:00

Tea / Coffee

Day 2 Thursday November 13, 2014

09:00

11:00

Session 3: Assessing Decentralization and Devolution in South Asia
Venue: Bukhari AuditoriumChair: Dr. Khalid Manzoor Butt- The State and Polity in India: Assessing the roots of authoritarianism in dichotomous application of devolution of power in state-centre relationship of Indian political frame of ruleRaja Qaiser Ahmed

– Issues and Relationship between Local Government and Central Government in PakistanAsia Khatak

– Elitism- an impediment in the way of de facto decentralization or local representation of power in South Asia: A Case Study of Pakistan and IndiaTasmia Tahira